An associate of the family of former NSW Labor powerbroker
Eddie Obeid
made a statement almost two years ago that claimed Mr Obeid’s son, Moses, had told him that a tender process for coal exploration licences was rigged so their bids were guaranteed to win.

Commodities trader Arlo Selby told the Independent Commission Against Corruption in Sydney on Monday that he gave the statement “under duress" but there were “definitely elements of truth in there". The statement, dated January 2011, said Moses Obeid told Mr Selby around June 2008 that there were “some very serious coal plans" involving land in the Bylong Valley east of Mudgee.

He claimed in the statement, which he did not admit signing, that Moses Obeid had also told him that then mining minister
Ian Macdonald
was “in on the deal and that’s how we can guarantee we will win whatever tender we go for". But Mr Selby told the hearing on Monday that he could not recall that discussion.

Mr Obeid’s family had purchased a farm known as Cherrydale Park in the area in late 2007 when Eddie Obeid was a Labor backbencher. Their friends and associates later bought two adjoining properties in which the Obeids have a stake. Mr
Macdonald
granted a coal exploration licence over the properties in June 2009.

Mr Selby said in the statement that Moses had told him the Obeids had, through third parties, “secured options on all the properties in and around the area and adjacent to his family property" and the land value would go up “tenfold" when a government announcement was made.

“I asked how this was possible and he replied that him [sic] and his whole family had inside information in relation to that valley and that there was in the vicinity of 1 billion tonnes of high-grade coal under the land," Mr Selby said in the statement. “He said the land was literally gold and for sure this thing would happen."

He claimed that former Australian rugby league player Peter Tunks, along with criminal Tony Taylor, were involved in creating the statement. He said Mr Taylor had threatened him, but he was also offered a share of any profits that were made from using the statement to blackmail people, including his former friend and Lehman Brothers banker Gardner Brook. Mr Brook, who was introduced to the Obeids by Mr Selby, is expected to give evidence today about his involvement in the coal licence deal.

In a separate case on Monday, Moses Obeid appeared in the NSW Court of Appeal to fight a finding that he was “dishonest and fraudulent".

Related Quotes

Company Profile

In February, the Supreme Court found Mr Obeid had secretly sold Sydney City Council’s multi-function poles offshore, in breach of licensing agreements. His company was ordered to pay $12 million in damages plus costs but it struck a deal with creditors to avoid paying most of the debt.

Barrister Bret Walker, SC, told the court the judgment did not identify a “specific" breach of confidential information as opposed to a “global" breach.